Police 'amended' Hillsborough statements

POLICE officers' accounts of the Hillsborough disaster were amended to remove comments criticising police leadership or abusive remarks about fans, an inquest has heard.

Jurors sitting on the inquest into the deaths of 96 football fans at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15, 1989 will have to consider whether the changes were part of a policy to blame fans and deflect criticism from the police, coroner Lord Justice Goldring said.

Senior ranks and lawyers at South Yorkshire Police reviewed all self-taken statements by officers present at the disaster and amended some of them before forwarding them on to West Midlands Police, who were investigating the tragic events, the inquest jury was told.

The coroner said: "Over the years between 1989 and today it has become known that a large number of statements were amended in the review. The amendments vary in type and significance.